Syracuse University staffer to push progressive vision during New York State Senate campaign

For Syracuse University staffer Rachel May, there’s a key issue that will define her New York State Senate candidacy: her concerns about the Independent Democratic Conference.

The IDC includes Syracuse-area Sen. David Valesky (D-Oneida), who May is now challenging in a 53rd Senate District primary. She announced her campaign Thursday, a few blocks from Main Campus.

“It’s about what feels like a betrayal of the voters of this district,” May, 60, said on Friday.

May, the university’s coordinator of sustainability education, said Valesky and the IDC have successfully blocked passage of bills such as the New York Health Act, which would provide universal, government-run health care in a new single-payer system.

That bill has been passed by the New York State Assembly. But the eight-member IDC works with Senate Republicans to stall out progressive legislation, May said.

“The IDC gets, in return, pork for their district,” May said.

To promote change, May said she formed True Blue NY-53, a local group that opposes Valesky. True Blue NY-53’s website is paid for and authorized by the multi-candidate campaign committee, No IDC NY.

That committee recently received a few donations from SU campus community members, Board of Elections records show. Thomas Keck, the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, contributed $25 on July 20, 2017, records show. That contribution was recorded by the committee on Jan. 15.

Jodi Upton, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication’s Knight Chair in Data and Explanatory Journalism, contributed $50 to the committee on September 5, 2017, records show. That contribution was recorded on Jan. 15. Both May and Upton live on Circle Road in the University Hill neighborhood, records show. Marthe Reed, a humanities faculty fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences, contributed $20 on October 10, 2017. That contribution was recorded on Jan. 15.

Reed donated $150 to May’s campaign on Jan. 8. And, in total, May’s campaign has raised more than $35,000 as of Sunday, records show. At present, May said she’s focused on fundraising.

“(It’s) what the early part of campaigns is all about, unfortunately,” the university staffer said. “But one of my goals is to change our election law and make … public financing of campaigns something that happens, so that we don’t have to do this. But, it’s a big part of the campaign.”

Campaign finance reform is just one aspect of May’s platform that Sunny Aslam, a local doctor, said he supports. Aslam knows May from a regional activist group and, like the Senate candidate, backs the passage of the New York Health Act and condemns the IDC.

“You know, I work with patients every day who are struggling around insurance issues,” Aslam said. “Their insurance lapses, their health insurance. It lapses. They lost it. They’re at risk of losing it. They can’t afford medications, their insurance isn’t covering medications … so I’ve been a longtime advocate for Medicare for All-style, universal health care.”

Both Aslam and May have volunteered with the CNY Solidarity Coalition, a social justice organization that formed after President Donald Trump’s election.

Maurice Brown, a senior communication and rhetorical studies major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, also said he’s glad May supports the New York Health Act.

“She has very good foresight,” added Brown, an activist involved in local politics since Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential bid. “That was the issue that got me sold on her.”

May said in the next few months, with the Democratic primary approaching in early September, she plans on learning more about portions of the 53rd Senate District, which stretches east toward Utica.

The candidate has been attending meetings in Cazenovia to learn more about issues in Madison County, she said. All of Madison County is in the district.

“We’ve estimated that about 11,000 people will vote in the primary,” May said. “It’s gonna be a lot of work.”